Saturday night, July 13, 2024 at about 6:15 PM former president and current presidential candidate Donald J. Trump dodged a bullet….and so did we. 

    In a small western Pennsylvania town, Butler by name, Trump’s thump and stump speech was interpreted by multiple rounds from a sniper’s rifle fired only 130 yards away from the former president. Provincially, the sniper’s fire only grazed Trump’s ear drawing blood. Tragically three male attendees were wounded, one fatally, by the gun fire. They were hit while shielding their families (Please remember and pray for the family of Corey Comperatore who passed from his wounds). Coincidently (providentially) Trump had moved his head just slightly. If he hadn’t maneuvered in just the right manner and at just the right time Donald Trump would be dead. Stone cold dead. Truly he dodged a bullet… and so did we.

   It is by God’s intervention alone that the former President is among the living today. It is miracle that he could release a statement saying, “Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” Truly Mr. Trump dodged a bullet…and so did we.

     There are already accusations and ranker across the great republican and democrat divide. Rightly or wrongly the blame game is in full swing.  Picture the anger, the threats, the actions and reactions if the assassination attempt was successful. Right now the population is suspect of our government. We are just one or two incidents away from a full-blown revolt. The nation is polarized and volatile.  A civil war it seems is more likely than civil discourse. Please remember the words of Jesus “a house divided against itself cannot stand”.

    The events of the last few days affirmed what we all already knew. The state of our republic is not healthy. The rhetoric and ranker is out of hand. The anger and the hatred is palpable. The unimaginable is now thinkable. The unthinkable is now imaginable. The America we love is on the verge of something bad, very bad. Something is very wrong with the soul of our nation.  I’m reminded of the words of Benjamin Franklin in 1787 when our Constitution was first ratified. Franklin famously said “You have a republic, if you can keep it”.  Sadly, for the first time in my lifetime I have my doubts.

    Please understand that what is going on right now is not only in this world that we can see but also in that world that we cannot see. It is a battle between the forces of darkness and the forces of light. It is primarily not between political parties or social ideologies. It is between good and evil, between God and Satan. It is spiritual in nature. It is won or lost not with earthly weapons but spiritual ones, weapons mighty for the tearing down of strongholds. Plainly and simply, it is won on our knees.

     Saturday night, July 13, 2024, Donald J. Trump dodged a bullet…. and so did we. Miraculously and wondrously, Trump escaped the now neutralized (dead) 20 year old assassin. God in His wisdom and mercy gave Mr. Trump a lifeline, an extension of life. He sent his angels to distract the shooter or deflect the bullet or to move the former president’s head. God intervened. Donald Trump, the person, the husband, the father, the grandfather, the entrepreneur, the builder, the reality tv star, the former president and the current candidate once again for president was spared by God. Thank you God!

    Saturday night Donald J. Trump dodged a bullet….and so did we. In my opinion, our God has given our nation a reprieve, a season to seek God’s face in prayer and to seek God’s pleasure through repentance and a change in behavior. A season as well, to seek to heal the political wounds that are getting deeper and deeper as the days go by. Our nations soul needs a spiritual awakening.

     God’s church needs to lead the way. We, God’s people, need to repent of our idolatry. We have made politics and political candidates something they were never intended to be for us. They aren’t our solution, the Lord is. They aren’t the answer, Jesus is. They can’t solve our problems, only Almighty God can. We don’t trust in government; we trust in God. We don’t pray to the government we pray to the LORD. And speaking of prayer, we have been praying sporadically and casually when we should have been praying frequently and intensely. We have taken our responsibilities to be salt and light as Jesus described us way to lightly. We are now seeing the fruit of our lukewarm Christianity.

     Please, I urge you, I plead with you, I beg you, from now through the foreseeable future, pray for our nation, for our political leaders and for God’s church. Pray like the survival of your nation depends on it, because it does.

Saturday night, July 13, 2024 at about 6:15 PM former president and current presidential candidate Donald J. Trump dodged a bullet….and so did we…for now.

In His Service,

Pastor Dave Watson